


A New Path

by cursed_core



Series: The Marvel Archives [9]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:27:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26798824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cursed_core/pseuds/cursed_core
Summary: Things tend to happen in unexpected ways.
Series: The Marvel Archives [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1876885
Kudos: 3





	1. Old and New Friends

Natalia walks through the hallway of the dingy hotel, leading to where she needs to go. There is no reasonable explanation for what she is about to do, committing treason on a country she has put her life on the line for multiple times but he has an offer. She stands face to face with the closed dark brown door, turning the knob and pushing it open without knocking. The sight that greets her is Zima sitting in an armchair, waiting and doing nothing. He becomes animated when she steps in, immediately standing. “Take my seat little spider, there is a lot to discuss.” Natalia does as instructed, taking a seat in the warm chair but that doesn’t help her unease. “You know you can’t go back after this.”

“I know that all too well, Zima. What is the offer?”

He gives a smile that a hunter would give to prey fallen into a trap, Natalia barely bats an eye used to this from him. “I want you to join the Red Rooms again.” She goes to stand and leave however Zima pushes her back into the chair. “No you need to listen. If you join us again… if you join  _ me _ again, you will have far more power then you could have ever hoped for.”

“Isn’t the serum enough you sick fuck? Isn’t that forced power not good enough for you?” Zima winces at the hurled insults. “I want no part in this.”

“Then go back to your little band of heroes and be on the wrong side and get arrested. We both know that whatever you are doing here it is unauthorized.” 

“I will take jail over being next to you.” 

“You won’t want that little spider.”

“You don’t know what I want.” Natalia finally stands and pushes past him to the door, she turns and looks at him with a disgusted glare.

“I know it all too well. I know how you are. Regardless of the choice you have to give up everyone and everything that you care about in that pathetic human heart of yours.” She starts shaking at this point. “It always wins and gets what it wants, Natalia.”

That is the point where she left the hotel room, trying to not stumble. Something compelled her to enter a hotel room just a few doors down, immediately locking and bolting the door behind her. Natalia leans against the door, eyes closed trying to gather a normal breathing pattern. With her eyes closed she didn’t see the guy who she yelled at in the cafe sitting on the bed with a laptop. He eyed her a bit, seeing past the flesh surface into what coats her soul  _ webs _ . Gerard is also not shocked at this intruder as the patron of his own gave him a vague sense of who was about to stumble into his room. He speaks softly as to not scare her any further. “I am not one for manners myself, but you should really knock.” 

Natalia’s eyes snap open looking at him directly. “Oh fuck it is you again.” This time she does analyze him a bit more, small tattooed eyes on every joint of him, even his fingers. There were also burn scars covering almost every inch of him except for those tattoos. Stressed and with impulse she starts digging for her pack of cigarettes, hoping for even a small comfort.

He watched her from across the room, sympathizing with the soft  _ pat pat pat _ of the search, knowing it all too well. Gerard pulls a half empty slightly crumpled pack from his pocket, thankful that he got a smoking room. “Want one?” He holds it out and she just nods and takes one. Gerard being kind enough to light it for you. “So what brought you to my room today?”

“I… I don’t know. Something in me just told me to.”

He looks at her webbed insides again, unsure of how to take the statement. Gerard urges his patron for a hint which he luckily gets. “You are Natalia Romanova from the cafe, right?”

Natalia nods inhaling the cigarette gratefully. “Yeah, I am. Can I get a name for the goth who I harassed by accident?”

“My name is Gerard Keay.”

“Your accent is British. What are you here for? A vacation?”

He laughs a bit. “I learned the hard way that I don’t get vacations. Trying to find something.”

“What are you looking for?” Natalia watches him intently, like a brand new subject.

“A book.” Gerard doesn’t add any types of details.

“What a rare book if it brought you out all this way.” She picks up an ashtray, finally taking a seat on the armchair with legs over the side and ashtray on her stomach.

“It is a Leitner, I am not sure if you have heard of them.”

“I can’t say I have in my many years of being around.”

_ Many years of being around? But she looks so young.  _ Gerard tucks that thought away for a different time. “Books that basically kill people from these entities.” He watches her but Natalia who is watching right back barely bats an eye. 

“What are these entities?”

“I am shocked you don’t know about them with how deep the Web has its hooks in you already. It is like you are a few steps away from becoming one with it.”

“Excuse me?”

“You really don’t know?” He sighs. “Alright let me explain. There are a series of entities, patrons, or gods. I don’t care what they are called but they are based in fear, they victimize and wrap themselves around those that seem like the most willing targets. And you are infected with the Web. The fear of being controlled and manipulated in the shortest terms. What happened to you?”

She thinks to the horrors of her childhood, trying to figure out how to summarize everything. “I was raised to be a perfect weapon with every single choice stripped away from me, under someone else’s control completely so I became Black Widow.” Natalia takes a long drag from her cigarette. “I could have taken back control of Russia as I am royalty but I didn’t even have  _ that _ choice.”

“Oh is Natalia too informal then? Your highness it is.”

“Oh fuck off if you call me that again I will personally kick your ass.”

“A bit too short for that.”

“Fucking try me.” She laughs a bit. “What is the fear that infects you?”

Gerard smirks. “The Eye. With this, Natalia, I will give you some advice. Make a deal with the Web before it consumes you whole so you don’t turn into a complete monster like the owner of The Magnus Institute. Feed your fear and get something in return.”

“What is so bad about The Magnus Institute? I gave them a statement last week.”

There is an annoyed groan from him. “You are more hopeless than I thought. The Magnus Institute is run by the Eye. It revels in feeding from the second hand fear of every statement that it is given. My mother may have been fucking insane but she taught me to never trust that place.”

Natalia thinks. “It helped me clear my mind of everything.”

“That is what it wants you to think but what isn’t displayed is every single suicide or death that happened after the statements. The deaths that could have been stopped but the Beholder just likes to watch the fear and frenzy.” 

“Well, thank you for telling me I suppose. Where is this book that you are looking for?”

He blinked in surprise at the sudden change of topic. “In a police station up the street. It is in evidence as it was found on a dead body.” 

“What if I help you get it?”  
“What?” Gerard wasn’t used to having partners in the first place to help him with anything after working alone for many years.

“You know far more about this stuff and I want you to teach me so let me help you.”

He looks at her, relaxed into the chair seeming completely at ease at this point. For the hell of it he types her name into Google. What comes up is impressive to him seeing her fighting in hand to hand combat as well as leaping from building to building. “You might be useful.”

“Might?” She laughs a bit. “Don’t undersell me like that, Gerard. And another thing. I want us to be friends, I help you with the books and you can help me from slipping too far into the Web. Does that sound like a deal?”

Friends? Also a new concept to him, a completely new one. “Then call me Gerry.” He gives her a smile over his laptop. “I have always wanted my friends to call me Gerry.”

Natalia gives a rare genuine smile. “And you can call me Nat.” 

“Nat it is then. So get the book and get coffee and a smoke after?” Natalia nods in response with a smile, the cigarette dangling from her lips.


	2. Repeat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A rescue mission.

Gerard wandered the same three hallways all dark the feeling of cold and numb seeping into him. The same medical rooms passing by him again and again. Just him in this place he pulls out his phone the dim screen barely lighting anything almost like the building is trying to keep a steady light level. He scrolls to his one constant contact: Nat. Her name has a web and spider emoji next to it. Gerard bites his lip anxiously before hitting dial. Immediately he hangs up then redials. 

Natalia drops a plate off at a table, telling the customers to enjoy their meal in a soft German. Feeling her phone vibrate in her apron pocket she looks at it. Gerry is calling with just an eye , book and fire emoji next to his name. With no hesitation she picks up despite the look from a manager at the back of the restaurant. “Hey, what’s up?”

He can hear the people in the background and his throat closes. There is nervous laughter. “This is.. Uh I am sorry you are probably busy.” 

Gerard’s voice comes out hollow and echoing, Natalia blinks with the weird echo. Her manager starts to approach her and she holds up a finger to him which by some miracle makes him stop his walk over to her. “I am never too busy for you, Gerry. What’s up?”

“Ne clings to her words.  _ Never too busy for you.  _ “I’m… I’m stuck. In a hospital or…” He tries to find the words through the overwhelming despair. “What used to be one. I don’t… I don’t think I can get out on my own.” The admittance made his voice crack. “You used to save people by the hundreds, it is not like I am anything special-”

“I left the Avengers, remember. I can't go back to them now. You are all I have left so you are very important to me. Where is the hospital or what is left of it, Gerry?" Natalia mentally blots out all of the noise around her, working on focusing completely on the conversation. Now ignoring looks from patrons, coworkers and boss alike. The concern shows in her voice, and her face to those all around.

He sighs then nervously laughs.  _ Right, Nat wasn’t in the public eye anymore. How could I forget that? Her being a distant hero on TV feels so much more vivid. _ “I am uh… at this hospital outside of Amsterdam called Saint’s Rose Hospital. Don’t come in...” He digs his nails into his palm. “Just hold the door.”

“Give me an hour or so and I will be there.” Natalia hangs up, glaring at the manager who has now made his way across the restaurant to talk to her. Calmly she removes the apron before tossing it at him, tips be damned. “I quit.” She grabs her bag from the back, keeping the spare notebooks and water bottle, ignoring everyone on the way out. Gerard stares down at the phone screen. Anxiety now setting in.  _ She said that to just get rid of him.  _ He laughs to himself.  _ She probably thinks I am an idiot who  _ **_loses_ ** _ a door?  _

The building from the outside looks old, rundown and wooden. Really what else is new when it comes to these circumstances. Natalia props the door open with her foot fighting back the urge to go into the building, to explore the dark waiting room. “Gerry! I don't know where you are in there but I am here.”

Her voice cuts through like sunshine in the darkness making Gerard almost drop his phone in shock. He yells back, panicked. “Do not close the door!” He runs towards the sound of her voice, through the waiting room that wasn’t there before. The fear and adrenaline pumping through his veins that she will just shut the door. But she doesn’t and soon he is out. Natalia wraps him up in a hug immediately. “People were going missing… I thought it was a book.”

“Hey you are out now that is what matters.” She lights a cigarette, putting it into his lips. “Inhale and exhale slowly. It will help steady yourself. What is this place?”

Gerard inhales drinks in the familiar taste of smoke, a taste he is now realizing he associates with Nat. “It belongs to the Lonely. The only way to get out is if someone cares comes to get you out. It is sick.”

Natalia eyes the building still holding a lighter, digging out a notebook. “Want to burn it?”

He runs a hand along the back of his neck with the sensation of skin crawling and vision blur that comes from getting any hint. “That will work. The Lonely hates the light and heat.” 

She passes the notebook and lighter to him. “For tinder.” Natalia smiles at him sweetly. “You deserve this one completely for what it tried to do to you.” She begins stacking any dry wood that can be found around the edges of the building. 

Gerard worked alongside her, throat thick with emotion. There is no hesitation in her movements, no irritation. If there was anything however it was anger. An anger that no one has ever held for him. “Thank you… for coming to get me.”

“I am not going to lose you to a dumb fucking building.” She laughs. “I know you would do the same for me as well.” 

He opens then closes his mouth. Setting fire to the notebook with ease, this he knows how to do. Gerard tosses it to the dry stacks of wood, watching it quickly go up in flames. “We should get out of here before someone notices.”

“In a moment.” Natalia pulls out a cigarette, bending over the fire lighting the cigarette as a final fuck you to the building. Gerard watches her closely, he may dress over the top but no matter what Nat always manages to have the dramatics down. “Great, we can go now. I have a small apartment, we can walk and talk. There is alcohol and as this is Amsterdam some pot as well if you need to relax.” She breezes past him leading the way. 

“Is it okay if I ask some questions to think about… not that place.”

“Of course, Gerry.”

“So you mentioned being around many years. How many years?”

Natalia sighs. “Wow, okay. Don’t you know it is rude to ask a woman her age?” She teases him with a laugh. “I was born in 1928.”

“That leaves me with more questions, I hope you know that.”

“Well, we have a long walk.”

“It is just a thing. This serum thing.” Natalia gives him a smile. “I don’t age, I have increased strength, speed, I don’t get sick. I was the best and the Red Rooms wanted me to be better.”

He murmurs. “It is always the old ones.” Gerard speaks more clearly so she can hear him. “It isn’t that.”

“Then what possible reason could they want someone like this beyond having a forever weapon?”

“The Web is protecting you. The night we met, you walked in from meeting Zima. What happened?”

“He made me an offer. Zima wanted me to give up everything that I worked for in the USA.”

“So more than protecting you. Have I explained to you what an avatar is?” Natalia shakes her head. “Avatars are people that the fears work through. There are two rules to it. The first being you have to agree to it. The second is a sacrifice. Doesn’t matter what or who it is. Can be through death or through giving everything up which was your offer.”

“It wants me to become  _ that _ ?”

“Look at yourself, you are a perfect candidate for it. Even more so when you were raised in it.”

“Not like I had a choice.”

“Which is the point. Have you made a choice on that one?”

“Well the way you are talking there were two options. Get arrested by the United States government  _ or  _ join them. I have chosen a third option, and that is helping you in this world.”

Gerard chokes a bit on air. “Are you sure about that?”

“We literally just burned down a hospital. Now I have a few questions for you.”

“It is only fair.”

“From what I know about you have you dated anyone, ever?”

He laughs. “No I haven’t dated anyone, Nat. Biggest virgin to possibly exist.”

“That is actually shocking. Why is that?”

“Too busy hunting books and I don’t think anyone really looked at me like that.”

“You are attractive. I am sure plenty of girls have checked you out.”

“Being attractive doesn’t negate the whole being busy with book issue.”

“Alright. So why the obsession with these haunted books?” Natalia shifts so she is walking in front of him backwards, easily keeping pace with him.

Gerard smirks, amused with her change. “Well my mum was obsessed. She always tried to work with forces she never understood right up until her death. You can’t win over these books. I truly remember Leitner being the first man I have ever hated in my life because of them. When I did want to make her happy I would bring the books home and she was but it wasn’t to see me. It was just for those fucking books. When I got too old for her to stop me from doing what I wanted I have taken to disposing of the books in any way possible. Mostly fire but there have been weirder ways.”

Natalia nods. “What is the weirdest way you've gotten rid of a book?”

“You can’t laugh.”

“I promise I won’t”

“I ate it.”

She immediately starts laughing. “You ate a book?!”

“You said not to laugh!” He teases. “Yes I ate a book. It took sixteen hours.”

“That is one of the funniest things I have heard.” After speaking they arrive at her apartment, Natalia obviously leading the way up the narrow stairs. The door unlocks with a weirdly satisfying sound. “Hungry at all? There are leftovers in the fridge.”

He looks at the date on his phone. Eight days have passed since he entered the hospital. Gerard nods just noticing the hunger hitting him like a truck. “God yes.”

“Help yourself.” He absolutely does so while Natalia walks off to a room, coming back out in pajama shorts and a crop top, showing off two prominent scars. She grabs herself a heaping bowl of homemade alfredo and noodles leaning against the counter in the small room to eat.

“So did someone take a kidney?” He teases her.

“Oh sadly nothing that exciting. I just had a scientist get shot through me on a double agent mission.”

Gerard goes very sarcastic. “How boring! No excitement there at all!”

Natalia laughs. “Do you have anywhere to live?”

“Nope.”

“Stay here, there is a small second bedroom. If not you can make this a base of operations for you.”

He looks at her up and down trying to read her but there is just that smile.  _ A home? An actual place to live? _ “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. Can’t have you going missing all across Europe.”

Gerard doesn’t know how to respond to her but Nat is right. Not enough words can really thank her.


End file.
